Vinyl, Lino, Carpet Squares ... a whole new frontier

I thought I knew a fair bit about building, building terms, finishes. materials. I know at a glance what a four by four looks like, I know what rio bar is, I know the different between cement and concrete, I even know the correct mix of sand, cement and aggregate to make a good mix.  I don't get caught out when a tradie asks me to go down the hardware store for a long weight, or even a 3 inch hole.

This is possibly the vinyl we will go for in the Kitchen & Bathrooms

But yesterday I went on a whole new builders journey - into the commercial world of fit-outs. I learnt what coving means, (and I like it), I got over my fear and loathing of carpet tiles (and I like them), I learnt about how soft close door hinges work (and I like them too) and I learnt that stone bench tops come in 3m lengths but laminex is 1200mm.  We also confirmed to ourselves what makes a good salesman, and what makes a bad one.

Mr K and I spent a very exhausting day going out to the industrial area of Perth and visiting Kitchen/Cabinet makers, tile showrooms, carpet showrooms, vinyl warehouses. I think we have come away with a better idea of what we want, at least I hope we have as time is running out.

So, what is coving? When you lay vinyl floors (and yes, I know you are asking vinyl floor?  Are you mad?) you can lay them loose or glued down. As we are using vinyl in the kitchen, the shower room and toilets, it has to be stuck down and completely water tight. To do this they cove the corners, and run the vinyl up the wall as a skirting. Think hospital floors.  Its a very effective way to make wet areas sealed, although not very cheap.  From a cleaning perspective, I love it.

Cross section of the coving process

What it looks like

Carpet Tiles were a new frontier too. We all have memories of those ill fitting, curling at the edges, scratchy, blue or pink carpet tiles. But they too have come a long way, and you can get all manner of designs, colours and qualities. I like the idea that we can replace any damaged or stained tiles, I like that we can put them down last after we have painted and made a huge mess, I like that they actually look pretty smart. They cost no more than a fitted carpet. Mr K is still not very convinced.

Wish our office view was this good!  But the floors could be

We are leaning towards a charcoal grey.

Finally, the Kitchen. We have one quote and waiting on another to get a kitchen company in to build and fit instead of us doing a flat-pack kitchen. We want it to look really nice, so worth spending a little more more on it, plus if we get it supplied and fitted then its one less job for us to do. Of course it costs a (lot) more, about double the price, but I think it will be well worth saving the money in other areas. We are getting towards the pointy end of this project!

Kitchen will be kinda like this, but with a yellow splash-back. 

A New Office - Part Three - The fun bit

The new office and how we planned it. 

This is the fun part, well it's the fun bit until we start having to consult the budget anyway. Being creative is so expensive!  So how do you start this great big lumbering project? I use Microsoft Project (thanks David for putting it onto my PC :-) and start by creating the big categories first:

• Lease
• Preliminary Research
• Preparation to Move
• Final Plans and Budget
• Quotes and Bookings 
• Business Services
• Enable Services
• Demolition
• Rebuild
• Decorate
• Purchases
• Move
• Set-up New Office space
• Clean up and finalise lease at old office

Ideas for the wall panels behind reception desk

Then I go back to each category and fill in every single step that needs to be done. I ended up with five pages of individual tasks - and that's just the draft. As we go along there are always extra steps to add, something we have forgotten, an extra bit to add, an unforeseen problem that needs a solution.

After this list is sketched out, the managers all got together and went over it, adding their two cents worth and fleshing out a time schedule so that it all gets done on time. We have a little time on our side this move, certainly more than we had last time we did this.

Ideas for the staff kitchen

We are up to the final plans and budget stage, with a lot of the quotes and bookings being done this week as well. It's a constant juggling game, the budget has been up and down like a whore's drawers, we lose a bit, gain a bit, lose a lot, gain a bit. I think we are over our original budget but not by a lot (yet)!

It's an expensive business this office fit-out caper - we have a very limited budget of $70,000 which is chicken feed in the world of fit-outs. Some things may have to take a number and sit down for a while, but they are things that we can live without for now and do when money permits. We won't compromise on the customer facing areas, or the comfort for staff areas - got to keep both happy - so they will be done first.

Sofas for the reception area

So, we have a 95% complete plan, a schedule that is (so far) on track, a budget that looks pretty reasonable, funds in the bank and ready to go. Its been a week of Mr K meeting tradies onsite, handing out plans and instructions, getting back quotes and tweaking. More homework on wall finishes, carpets, paint choices, kitchen fit-out (good ole Ikea), cabling options, signs.

We officially take over in a little over a week (1st September) so want it all systems go for then. 

Its about to get LOUD!

Boardroom idea

A New Office - Part Two - How?

So, in the words of a old school friend of mine who was shipwrecked and lived to write a book about it - How do you eat an elephant?

What it looks like now

Well the answer is obvious ... you don't ... elephants would taste horrible and besides they are such wonderful animals how could you kill one to eat? I guess the rhetorical question might apply if you were a lion, in which case the lion would answer (after he had finished a mouthful, lions are very polite you know) - "one bite at a time".

A Before Photo - to go - pink carpets!, beige walls, vertical blinds - yuck!

Is this how we tackle the move to our new office? One bite at a time? Sure feels like we are moving an elephant! Before we can actually move, we need to do the fit-out of the new place. If we were a mining company or had unlimited cash flow, we would get a fit-out company to come do it for us for about 10 times the cost. We don't have unlimited funds, we have a small loan (small in terms of business, not small in terms of retired people) from my wonderful parents, and that's it so - we can do it ourselves!

Therefore we get smart, work hard and chew like crazy. The plans are almost finished - that was a task and a half on its own. There was only a very rough plan of the office, with no measurements and not entirely accurate. So Mr K and I had to measure every wall, window, partition, pillar, doorway and enter it into a plan making program (Good old Google and Sketchup). Now we had an accurate plan, it was time to get creative and move stuff around on paper.

One thing it has is LOTS of good storage and shelving

Easily done on a piece of paper, but the reality is every wall we moved has to be pulled down and removed in real life. Every line we drew back in, is a wall that has to be built. Mindful of this, yet needing to change the spaces we currently have, Mr K and I worked on a plan that will do both.  I am pretty happy with it so far, but experience has taught me that what works on a plan, does not always work on the ground.

That's OK, we have talented and experienced builders on the job - my Dad and Mr K.

Still in the planning phase, we don't get official possession to start work until the 1st September, we are using this week to get all the trades - plumbers, electricians, data cable, glass partitions guys, sign-writers etc to meet us on site and get quotes and ideas and schedule the works.

View out the front door

Come the 1st, we are into demolishing and clearing out what we don't need. 

Then the next phase begins.  It is a lot of work ahead, but I am just a bit excited!  The next post will be the new plans, the finishes we have selected and the scope of works.

A new Office - Part One - Why we are moving

With so much to tell you all, I barely know where to start!  So I will pick the most pressing story, one that will go on for many months to come, so best to make the introductions now.  Part One, is why we are moving in the first place. It was not an easy decision - its not an easy task moving your whole business to a new location.

The tech help desk area

(I have to interject here however, just to say, that since I have been doing Uni writing instead of blog writing, there is this nagging little voice on my shoulder that says this writing should be accurate, researched, peer reviewed, edited, proof read and presented with a cover sheet and crossed fingers. I am trying hard to ignore this little voice, otherwise I simply wont get anything written.)

OK, back to the story. Our business is currently run from a basement in an old lane-way in the heart of Perth. On the surface, the lane-way looks a bit trendy; there is an Irish Pub, a Brewery, Japanese and Thai restaurants, a hipster coffee shop, model agencies, boutiques. You get the picture. But lurking beneath this facade is an old building, in desperate need of some love, not just some cursory patch ups when the tenants scream loudly (and we do, often).

The flood after the water main burst

Drying up after the flood

In a word, our landlord is a dick, without the capital D! He just doesn't care about his tenants at all, certainly has no respect for heritage and old architecture. I actually suspect that his long term plans are to push it all down and put up a office block and car parking. We have been in this basement office for six years now, and boy, did we put a LOT of work into this place. The day we got the key there was a poor old homeless man sleeping in our doorway. Going down some dark grotty stairs we were greeted with a damp, musty smell - the place had been vacant for years.

There were half-assed partition walls, 12 different types of carpet, no air-conditioning, or even any fresh air! We took it on as at the time Perth was in the full flight of a mining boom and there was NOTHING to lease in the city at all. With the help of my wonderful Dad, staff, kids, friends and bank overdraft, we turned the basement into a rather industrial and groovy office space and showroom. We paid well over $120,000 for the privilege, with no concessions on rent - and when we leave we have to leave behind all that we did - a huge aircon unit plus 2 split systems, a fresh air system, cabling, glass and timber partitions, fully painted, carpeted, storage shelves and cupboards, a sink and water (there was none at all when we moved there)

But all that work was ok, we were happy to make the basement a bright light place to work and for our customers to come to. We knew we would never get any assistance from the landlord, but we did not expect him to be so difficult to deal with when we had issues that were out of our control. Like when the tenants next door, a food preparation business, had an industrial size dishwasher that leaked into our boardroom everytime it was run. Dirty, greasy, smelly water that seeped under the walls, into our carpet and furniture, day after day. We complained for months to get it fixed. It took them 6 months, after I threatened to call in the health inspectors (that the food place next door did NOT want) to get any action to fix the problem. We still have a boardroom table that is damaged from this, and no compensation.

The leaking dishwasher into our boardroom

On another occasion our power kept tripping out. Annoying for most business's but when you are an IT business, any power outage is disastrous  It went on for weeks and weeks. We reported it to our landlord .... we heard crickets.  We got our electrician out, he said it was a fault with the main power board - which belongs to the landlord and we don't have access to. We reported it again. The landlord, in his usual fashion, took his own sweet time to even reply to us, meanwhile our power is cutting out almost daily - all our servers dropping off, phones gone, not to mention we are in a basement so when there is no power it is pitch black! OH&S anyone?  In desperation we got our electrician back, and found the maintenance guy who had a key to the powerbox. It was a faulty fuse, took 5 minutes to replace but being 3 phase power cost $850. We sent the bill to the landlord - he refused to pay it as he had not authorised it. Told us we should have reported it and he would have got his electrician to fix it. Arrrrggg.

So, now that our lease is about to be renewed, we go to the landlord, to ask what the new lease will be (expecting that it will be pretty much the same thing, with the yearly 5% increase). In his usual punctual fashion, he got back to us a month later saying he was putting the rent up 25%, wanting a bank guarantee of $55,000 (despite the fact we have paid our rent on the 1st of every month for the last 6 years without exception) plus increase our insurance. 

We counter offered - no rent increase, no bank guarantee, we will increase insurance but we want the landlord to fix the wobbly tiles in the foyer. He refused.

Front reception - Dad built all the timber paneled walls and we put in all glass partitions

So we walk. While we were waiting for the landlord to get back to us, we did our homework and had a good look at what was for lease in Perth. A LOT! The mining boom is waning, and there are so many vacant commercial tenancies that we could bargain hard and get a far better place for a much better deal and with a landlord that will actually talk to you.

As a side note, we are not the only tenants to leave this place. And as we do a lot of the IT support for these business's that are leaving, we get the inside story of why they are leaving. For all the same reasons we are. Its the ones who stay I feel sorry for - as when a tenant leaves, all the outgoings get divided amongst the remaining tenants. At the moment, we are paying one of the highest outgoings in Perth, with no amenities to show for it.

Next episodes will be the planning of the new office, fitting it out, moving, and finally the big opening party!

Phew - tax audit is over...or is it?

I know I have been MIA from my blog this last few weeks.  Always seems to happen this way.  This is whats been going on.

• I get on top of all my work (paid work as opposed to housework - never get on top of that) and start having some quieter days at work
• This gives me a hope that maybe I could study part time and still get all my work done
• I enroll at Uni - Unit 1 of 24.
• I get very excited about it - prepare all my resources  write out a study plan, do a lot of reading, get familiar with how online learning works.  
• By the 1st February, I am all ready for the start day of 25th Feb.
• I wait and look at my tub of sharpened pencils.
• 2nd February, I get a phone call from State Revenue.
• It appears we have drawn the lucky straw and been selected for a 'random' payroll tax audit.
• For anyone not familiar with this money gouge tax, its when a business pays $750,000 or more in wages over a financial year.  Not a lot when you think of how much an average wage is.  The govt take from you, 5.5% of every dollar over this threshold.  Doesn't matter if you made a profit at all that year, not relevant apparently. We didn't   We made a loss.  So keeping on staff while we were quiet is going to cost us.  Lesson learnt, sadly.
• Even though I do keep very good records, always pay what I need to on time  there is still a lot of work goes into collating, getting the documents out of archive, going through SR checklist etc
• I have been working with my accountant and his assistant for weeks now.  Finally we have it all ready to present.
• Yesterday, we had the audit (great timing, the last day of the month is always a busy day for me)
• She said it normally takes anywhere from 4 to 8 hours.
• My accountant presented her with bound documents for each year, collated and with every record she needed.
• She took just under an hour to complete her audit!!
• She gives me a preliminary finding, but I will have to wait for an official one.
• My accountant says to expect to wait up to 12 months for this!!
• I sent wine and chocolates and a hundred thank yous to my amazing accountant.
• We will have a bill for this financial year just gone, but all the other years are fine.
• We wont be employing any more staff, and pay rises are on hold until they raise the threshold.*
• Great incentive huh?  We are just a small business - and we get penalised for employing people.

OK.  Back to my study!

* Which I hate, our staff are like family to us.  Each and every one is valued and a human being.  We understand their problems and would love to be able to help with regular pay rises.  We would also like to keep staff on when things get quiet, but sadly we can't now.  This is how, and why bosses have to be tough.  It sucks.

Bad news and perspective

Had some pretty crappy news at work today - can't say exactly what, but it impacts us in a way that we really question why we run our own small business.  I was having a rare (and not always welcome) visit to the hairdressers, and was about to have the only bit of the ordeal I like - a treatment and scalp massage - when my phone beeps a message with the bad news.  Nothing I could do but lay back and pretend to be relaxed and enjoying the pampering when my insides were churning and I was hyperventilating!

Took me a few hours, some lamenting and fuming, some heated discussions,  tears - to then see a newspaper of the terrible floods in QLD - again.

Those poor, poor people.  Seeing one couple's story slapped me about with a get -over-the-self-pity crap and made me want to reach out for these fellow small business people.  For the THIRD time their little shop had been flooded.  There they were in mud and water up over their shelves and counter and still with a feint smile on their face and a determined stiff upper lip.  They lost stock, had to clean up the mess, and try and start again.  I know they will lose lots of money, not just for now, but it will take them months and years to catch up.  They were not rich people, just ordinary battlers trying to run their business.

I so admired them.  I so felt for them.  Sure put my news and day into perspective.

Today, I vowed that the next years budget we set aside for donations and charities (usually to PMH or children's sport or make a wish) was going to the flood victims.  

A Shaguar! Oh Behave ;-)

On Mr K's birthday, last year, well really only a week ago, but it was still last year, I asked him what he wanted to do that day.  It was the 28th December (his birthday is a unique day, not because its slap bang in the middle of the Christmas/New Year, but because he shares this day with his father, his uncle, his son#1 girlfriend AND had son#1 been born on his due date instead of running late, there would have been 3 generations of first born males born on the same day.  Some blame me for stuffing up this Guinness Book record, but I blame the child - he was WAY too comfortable in my womb to move)
 
Anyway, enough genealogy and onto the story of Mr K's birthday wish.  It was 38 degrees in the shade this day.  It had been this hot for days - my patience had run thin, I was over playing caterer and all I wanted to do was lay in the pool, or as close by to it, as I could.  Normally, on this day, Mr K would want a little mini party - just 20 or so family/friends over for an 'easy' BBQ.  I dreaded this thought, I really did just want to do nothing, especially nothing to do with food. 
 
But it was his Birthday, and in typical man-reverts-to-little-boy fashion, I had to indulge him in whatever he wanted to do.  So I was suspicious pleasantly surprised when he said he just wanted to go out shopping for the day, and did I want to go to IKEA?  Anyone who knows Mr K, will understand my hesitation - it was obviously a trap - as Mr K would rather spend a month in a Thai prison than go to IKEA. 

All was revealed with the next sentence ...

'I was thinking we could just drop into the Jaguar dealer over near IKEA and just have a little look at the new Jags'

You see, he has given himself a goal.  If our business can make a profit for 6 consecutive months, and reach the target we have set, then his reward is to buy (lease) a Jaguar.  I know, well I think anyway, that the chances of this happening are so slim that even looking at a Jag brochure is being optimistic.  But it was his birthday, and who knows, if he gets really excited about the carrot, then he may just crank up our business and reach his goal.

We did go and see this Jaguar, and got to have a test drive.  I must say, it was very, very nice. I could sure get used to driving about in one of these.  It was fun to choose leather seat colours and dashboard timbers.  To um and ah over the wheel profile, to decide that white was the best colour.  I tuned out with the rest of the sales pitch, and just day dreamed about this beautiful car.

This day must have had an impact.  For Mr K has been so motivated at work, is planning and implementing all sorts of projects to get us in the black, that I would not be surprised to see a Jag in our carport very soon. I hope so, as this is what he drives now ...


(Well I would show you but Blogger is having technical issues with uploading photo's - I will try again later)

Busy Day Today (or not ;-)

'The staff have all voted to have the Staff Christmas Party at our home again this year' ... so declares Mr K, all proud like.

He takes this as a sign that our staff love us and want to come to our house as they think that's neat.  He sees this as just one big Friday night after work drinks - on steroids.  With lots of food and a pool.

I see this as a big pile of hard work.  Which is fine, I am happy to show our staff how much we really do appreciate them, to say thank you for all their hard work, to spoil them for a bit.  But, guess who gets to do all the work that Mr K just can't see?  All the 'little things' that only women know about?

It's like that old joke that does the email rounds, the one about the husband who tells his wife she can have the night off and he will do the BBQ for their guests.  He stands turning snags whilst drinking a beer - she shops for all the ingredients, cleans the house, makes salads, sets the table, gets platters ready for the meat, makes sweets, clears the table, washes the dishes ... and he asks her afterwards how she enjoyed her night off cooking?

This will be our fourth year we have had the end of year party at our home.

The first year I had caterers in.  Lovely food, useless service.  It cost a small fortune, more than if we had taken everyone out to dinner. We had leftovers which would be great anytime except for right before Christmas when I need my fridge empty.

The second year we had the waitress of our local cafe, who was a cooking student, come and do it.  I worked harder than ever and my kitchen looked like my kids bedroom after they had searched for the missing Lego piece. 

Third year, I said ENOUGH and we went out to a restaurant.  I will admit that the party was flat, we sat at a table and had to behave ourselves. We were in public.  (I really didn't care this year, it was right before I had a hysterectomy, I was in no laughing mood!)

The fourth year, feeling SO much better I threw caution to the wind, having learnt from past experiences about caterers and cooking students; that I can do it better, quicker, cheaper and cleaner than anyone.  I made one little mistake - I got all elaborate and made lots and lots of canapes from scratch, far too many choices. 

Fifth year, this year, I am older (boy am I ever) wiser (I think!) and under the misapprehension that I have it all sussed.  I have simplified the menu, bought things that are fiddly to make, like four dozen mince pies, frozen spring rolls, and cheezels.  There will be huge slabs of roast meat, fluffy bread rolls and gravy - the majority of our staff are young lads - give them meat, bread and beer.  A few salads to keep the waif girlfriends happy. 

I have written a huge TO DO list for Mr K.  He has his jobs allocated.  Lets see if he is as keen to host the party here next year <wink>

PC and Kris Kringle and Employers

As one of the owners of the business, and one of only two women who work there, it always falls at my feet to be the Christmas Fairy and make magic happen for the staff.  But every year it gets harder and more fraught with gotcha's.  Gone are the good ole days when you could just tell the staff to turn up, have some fun and leave it at that.  Noooo - now we have regulations about bloody everything.  I try and make it a bit fun, but really, in these days of the employer being responsible for every little thing and litigation, well it kind of sucks all the fun out of it.

So I sent this email to all the staff to try and make light of the PC Christmas Grinch, while being a 'responsible' employer.  It still probably won't be warning enough if Worksafe got hold of it, but really, who wants to read a whole lot of strict rules just to attend your work Christmas party?  Some workplaces also make the staff sign that they have read and understood all the rules.  Talk about PC madness.

 

 

 

Dear Enablarians

 

For the benefit of the people who like to be super organised, or to give a heads up to the new boys, or to remind the old boys – here is a rundown of the Christmas traditions at Enable.  We respect all your personal beliefs, and this is not really a Christian celebration but just the end of the year 'thankyou'.  It gets called Christmas party as this is when it happens.

(note - I can say 'boys' as all the staff bar one is a boy, and she likes to be one of the boys anyway)

 

      December 15^th is the Christmas party.  Starting at 1pm. Partners/kids are invited and very welcome.  There is a pool, so if you don’t want to get thrown in, in your clothes (SB) then bring bathers.  And a towel.

(oh this one does my head in - the lads all want to play, and throw each other in the pool.  I run about and stress and say things like 'careful'and 'gently', all to no avail of course.  I even got thrown in myself one year for being a mother hen)

       

      At the Christmas party Santa gives out the Kris Kingle gifts – see below. And kids get a present if they have been very good (T, you are too old now for Santa, even if you think you have been very good - sorry)

(tricky when you have a family that don't give gifts at Christmas)

       

      All food and drinks are catered for – if any of you or your guests has any dietary requirements please let me know.  There are alcoholic and non-alcoholic drinks - please drink in moderation - otherwise stupid pictures of you hitting on the secretary will appear on your facebook - we won't be responsible for the fallout.

(I hate having to tell the staff how to behave at their end of year party.  We spend all year telling them to do things - I would like to think we employeed sensible people.  Surely I dont have to keep telling them how to behave?)

       

      Mr K will give a speech (oh nooooo!) But don’t worry, it’s all about you!  If anyone has any dirt on their fellow workers, then please send Mr K a confidential email – but remember – it’s all in fun and good taste – unless it’s about Mr K then you can send it to me and no holds barred!

(tricky one this, we are not allowed to make fun of, or tease anyone - but they all love to relive funny/silly things that happened over the year - humour is the key)

       

      Enable loves you – so please ensure your own safety and arrange for a safe journey home if you plan on drinking.  We do live on the train line (well not exactly ON, but next to J) and we will provide taxi vouchers home for those who wish them.  Or con your girlfriend or mum to drive you home.

(This is a big one.  The party does not end until all the staff are safely tucked up in bed.  One year, all the lads got on the train and headed into the city to keep on celebrating.  Technically, we were still responsible for them.)

       

      Kris Kringle – for those not familiar with this tradition.  Firstly, it is not compulsory to join in.  I will be going around getting the numbers soon.  Secondly, there is a strict price limit of between $10 - $15 dollars (or if you are a clever shopper less!).  Thirdly, just keep in the back of your mind that there will be children watching the opening of presents and we don’t want to shock them J (too much anyway).  OK.  So it works like this.  The people who are participating all put their names in the hat.  Then we all draw out a random name and keep it a secret.  We buy that person a gift – within the limit – and something that is unique to that person.  Wrap the present, put the recipient’s name on it only and give it to Santa’s helper – J – prior to the 15th.  We all then have a good time opening them!

( I had to bring in the rule about buying 'nice' presents as the lads got more and more risque (think AdultShop).  Again, we have to have a safe work environment, free of any unsavory things. I use the kids as an excuse for them to buy appropriate things)

       

      Closer to the date, I will get final numbers for catering.

       

      We close the doors on Friday 21^st December.  If it’s quiet, early.  We will have a few Xmas drinks and nibbles in the PM to bring in the festive season.  Again, if you plan on having a drink please plan your trip (safely) home.

       

      Work (for those not on further annual leave) starts again on Wednesday 2^nd January 2013.

       

      There are 4 days of compulsory annual leave in the break.

 

I think that’s all.  If I think of anything else, I might tell you, I might not ;-)

 

Cheers J

 

PS: Anyone who draws me I the Kris Kringle – remember that I have a fondness for blue bottles.

 

 

Staff camping weekend

Well of course I ended up enjoying it!  Always, it's the same.  Anxiety, trepidation, worry - all wasted emotions as when I got there it was all fine.  What did help, a lot, was busying myself taking the photo's.

It was tiring, hard physical work at times, some parts a bit uncomfortable - all totally over ridden by great company, a laugh, some fun, good food, good drink, awesome views.  There are lots of stories to tell but for now I think I will let the pictures say the 1000 words...

Mr K - pretty pleased that we had set up camp and he finally had a beer in hand

Young tech who scored a 'day off' on Friday to help set up camp! He too was pretty pleased with the fact he worked out how to put his tent up!

The camp before the entire team arrived.  The tarps were a nightmare to put up - only 3 of us and a gale force wind!

The moonscape where the camp spot is - in the lee of a sand dune.  The other side of the dune is pristine ocean

The genny - gave us light and powered the fridges - who says we 'rough' it

The old lady 'princess' of the camp.  She was not amused here that she had been put down on the sand.  She did the rounds of everyones lap.

Tom Dog - he waits for his love ... waiting ...waiting

Great white fishermen .... just as well we had steak and chops for dinner as we sure didn't get any fish

The Team - with only a few missing

A boy and a dog ... priceless

Awwww puppy love.  This is Tom Dogs girl.

Love the colours

Magical


 

Pumping up the tyres and a sad and weary goodbye ... well until work tomorrow anyway!